The Burning Man Project which is a music, arts and technology festival has been making headlines recently due to the extreme weather conditions that festival goers are facing, added to this, Nevada authorities are investigating a death at the festival.
The Nevada desert’s unexpected rain conditions have trapped over 70,000 festival concertgoers as they are facing over 3 feet of mud which prevents people from going in or out, whether they are on their feet or in their vehicles.
At this point, attendees are looking to ration their food, water, and fuel so they can survive while weather conditions allow them to leave Black Rock City, the impromptu self sustaining city created for the festival in the Black Rock Desert.
Saturday, Sgt. Nathan Carmichael, with the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, spoke to CNN Sunday morning and said that people have walked out on their own and faced quite a struggle, however, “most of the RVs are stuck in place,”.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, “The family has been notified and the death is under investigation,” and little is known of what happened.
According to the news outlet, the person was found on the playa, the sunken dry lake beds in the desert where the only way water is moved is by evaporation, that’s why a small amount of water gets stuck and creates flooding.
The deceased person received lifesaving procedures and revival efforts; however, they were unsuccessful and the person died.
According to the National Weather Service, “Stronger storms will be capable of very heavy rainfall, small hail, and wind gusts to 40+ mph,”.
This prompted the Burning Man website to instruct festival goers with “Please do NOT drive at this time,” they added. “We will update you on the driving ban after this weather front has left the area.”
How longer will festival goers be stuck there?
Burning Man organizers mentioned in a statement that “We do not currently have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely, Monday late in the day would be possible if weather conditions are in our favor. It could be sooner.“
